Note 71 — 1. OF THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS.

This power has however been questioned; the words of the Act 25 Hen. 8. are, “All manner of Licences, Dispensations, Faculties, &c. as heretofore hath been used and accustomed to be had at the See of Rome.” The term Degree does not occur in the act, yet in The King v. the Bishop of Chester, a degree of Bachelor of Divinity granted by the Archbishop was held a good qualification. 8 Mod. 364: Strange 797. This judgment was ably controverted in a pamphlet published at Oxford in 1791; we may say with the author, “As to the Archbishop of Canterbury I have no design to rob his See of any privileges belonging to it. He may give as many titles, and bestow as many honours as the Pope himself does, provided they are not admitted into the same rank with those conferred by the favour of the Crown, and they do not challenge any place in the construction of Charters and Acts of Parliament.” See Serj. Hill’s Law Pamphlets in fol vol. 1. in Lincoln’s Inn, Lib. A recent Act of Parliament, 55th Geo. 3. recognises only Physicians licenced by the College and by the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge.